http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/07/indy鈥?/a>
According to the article they will be making the announcement on Monday.
The IRL still needs to eliminate one oval and add a road course. Which oval do you think will be dropped?
Which road course will be added?What do you think about the Barber Motorsports Park being added to the Indycar Schedule for 2010?
Great! Fans showed a lot of support during testing.
If they eliminate an oval it would be between Milwaukee, Richmond or Miami. However I doubt that they would announce Miami is not on the schedule for 2010 before they race there. Milwaukee has six different groups of promoters wanting to buy the track so it looks like they will return next season. Richmond is the only track left so I guess it will be dropped if an oval needs to go.
Terry Angstadt has said in the past that they will have even parity between ovals and road courses for 2010. In the link below he also says that their will be 17 races for 2010. So I think that Cleveland will be back for 2010 since it is the only course that they have talked about running a double header in which they would race on an oval and then the road course the next day. At least that is the only way I see the IRL keeping parity between oval and road courses for next season. Then again multiple courses could be dropped from this years schedule since besides Cleveland Lanigan is also the promoter of the streets of Houston and is pushing for a race at Baltimore Harbor.What do you think about the Barber Motorsports Park being added to the Indycar Schedule for 2010?
Personally, I like the idea of Barber coming on board with the 2010 IndyCar schedule. It gives the series another race outside of the Midwest, and it'll be during early spring when the weather is getting better.
I do, however, have a few concerns:
(1) I'm not sure how IndyCar can start with 3, perhaps 4, road/street courses to start the season: Brazil, St. Pete, Barber, Long Beach. Personally, if I had my druthers, I'd slip an oval in there ... based on that order, could a Phoenix come back onto the schedule (between Barber %26amp; Long Beach)? That'd make sense. I believe Kansas would be the last weekend in April, leading into the 500, but starting with 4 road courses could be interesting.
(2) There's no doubt in my mind the Alabama fans will come out in droves. They were most supportive in the couple practice sessions held there over the last 2 off-seasons - they PACKED the place. However, Barber mgmt's already stated that there'll be about 30-35K people there for the race days? Just me, or is that number a touch low? 'Course, let's give it a fair shake.
(3) The drivers that ran the test sessions were really positive about running a race there - that's always a good thing. However, they were worried about passing zones and a few places where the course was tight for 2-wide racing. Will Barber mgmt take a few of those issues into consideration? I'm not sure. I'd say let's run the 2010 race as the course is right now, and then add input prior to the '11 race.
Looking forward to it. Should be a nice addition to the schedule, and I hope Birmingham and the Alabama residents are excited.
I can see multiple sides-both good and bad-to this. On the one hand, drawing 10,000 for a test shows that there is a market in the southeast for IndyCars. On the other hand, Barber Motorsports Park-as beautiful as it is-is very narrow and passing is difficult, but hopefully that can be rectified and things will go better in that regard.
Why must the IRL drop one oval and add one road course? With Birmingham and Brazil added, there may be one oval to go. If one does, I think it will be Kansas, which is constructing a Hard Rock Casino and is trying to add a second Nascar date.
The things that go through my mind when I see the track is 'Mickey Mouse' and 'no passing'. And I start to ask why, but then I remember that this is the IRL.
The obvious oval to go is Richmond, and the obvious road course to be added is Elkhart Lake. But I still hope Laguna Seca can be added in somewhere.
So how long until the local woman hater brings his usual anti-Danika post?
I think its great, why drop a track we need more IRL races. One thing for sure all my IRL friends in the south are gonna be happy about another IRL race in the south... We just need more IRL races. Do not drop any track. Add Road America, Lime Rock, more tracks not less.
Go Team Penske
Not sure why they would put Barber Motorsports Park on the schedule. I would hate to see Richmond get booted off the schedule. I think everyone enjoys coming here.
good for the sport to add more road courses, the real racing test
